Alameda: Ashcraft, Daysog win seats on City Council

ALAMEDA -- Planning Board member Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft topped the poll in the race for the two open City Council seats on Tuesday, securing about 25 percent of the vote.

The other winner was Tony Daysog, who will be returning to City Hall after previously serving on the council from 1996 to 2006.

Daysog secured about 18 percent of the vote.

A third council seat could also open up, however, if Alameda Vice Mayor Rob Bonta succeeds in his bid to represent the state Assembly's 18th District.

Council candidate Stewart Chen was just behind Daysog with about 17 percent after all the votes were counted.

In all, three women and four men made a bid for the seats currently held by Doug de Haan and Beverly Johnson.

De Haan could not seek re-election because he has been termed out.

Johnson quit the council race after Gov. Jerry Brown recently appointed her deputy director at the state Office of Administrative Law, saying the time commitment required by the job would prevent her from working effectively on the council.

Along with Ashcraft, Daysog and Chen, the other candidates were Jeff Cambra, Gerald Valbuena Dumuk, Jane Sullwold and Joana Weber.

Ashcraft and Daysog will take office at a time when the city faces challenges: The new council must guide the future of Alameda Point, plus it must steer the Alameda Landing project, the mixed housing and business development in the city's West End.

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What's more, the new council must tackle rising pension and retiree health care costs -- now estimated at least $190 million -- and it must find ways to pay for the ongoing deferred maintenance of the city's infrastructure, which tallies about $9.5 million annually.

An attorney and arbitrator, Ashcraft has served on the city's Economic Development Commission and on the board of Alameda Hospital.

Along with having previously served on the council, Daysog's background includes stints on the city's Fiscal Sustainability Committee and on the Economic Development Commission.

Daysog works as an urban planner and holds a master's degree in city planning from UC Berkeley.